Bow and daggers VS sword and shield
by Duen
Summary: Dawn, an nord woman and assasin for the dark broterhood might meet her match with the Dragonborn known as Jesper
1. Chapter 1

**Morthal: Moorside inn, 10:00 PM.**

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><p>Another night at the not so crowded Moorside inn. Only real customers are the guards, and a few local woodmill workers. One of them is Carl Sown-Dread. He was not a peoples person kind og nord, but more of a brodding nagger. He always think of making enough money so he can move out of Morthal, and into one of the larger holds like Solitude or Whiterun. But he never gets close to his goal with his constant drinking after work, so people still have to suffer from his negative attitude.<p>

"Bring me another one!" He yelled at Jonna, the inn keeper.

"Another one? Since what happen to *I'm going to get money to ditch this hole* hmm?" She asked annoyed while filling another bottle of mead.

"Aye shut it redguard and give me my ale!" He snatched the ale from her and dropped 5 septims on the floor and went outside.

He drank the bottle empty and threw it in the nearby waterfront. He turned and headed for the mill to chop some wood, when he bump into someone"

"Hey watch it!" He said in his angry semi drunken voice.

The woman he hit, was a black haired nord woman wearing a thick rope and had green eyes with a small cute nose. She had an argonian at her other side. She caught him eyeing her and said "And who do you think you are?" in an offended voice.

"Carl Sown-Dread!" He said. She then looked at him with a one brow raised with a doubtful look.

"What ya staring at wench?!" He asked.

"Just wondering how someone like you is permitted to stay here" She said and walked off

Carl just turned and snorted "Bitch" not caring if she heard it. He reached the mill and took the axe and started to chop loose. Meanwhile he thought of the woman he bump into, and thought of how he would not mind have her over for a day or two. The thought of that brought a smile to his face.

**30 minutes later**

He started to feel tired and decided to go to bed. He put down the axe up against the mill and began walking back to town.

"Psst. Come here" Said a strange low voice coming from the woods.

He turned and said "What is in it for me huh?"

"Just want to know if you want to earn some easy septims" It said. He did not think for long after the voice said easy septims. He followed it into the woods where a hooded character stood.

"What is this about easy septims?" Carl asked.

"I got some skooma shipments coming through Morthal, if you can make sure the guards does not take notice of this then you will be much rewarded" It said with a smooth male voice.

Carl lifted and eyebrow and asked "How much?"

"1000 septims now, 500 after the job is done" He offered.

"Done" Carl accepted and took the bag of septims that was offered.

"It was nice doing buisness with you Carl Sown-Dread" He said.

Carl just shrugged it off, cause of the money, but quickly realise something odd. He turned around and said "How do you know my nam- uck!" he was caught off by an ebony arrow into his throat. He dropped the bag of septims and fell on his knees with one hand on his throat and the other on the ground.

He manage to look up and see a slender female body in a black and red light armor, with a hood the covered all of the face but the eyes, which had a familiar green colour.

She pulled down her hood and shown her face to her victim, looking him into the eyes as she pulled out her arrow in one quick pull. Carl then went down, and quickly bleed to death.

The hooded man walked over to them and picked up the bag of septims and said "Do you have to be so dramatic Dawn?" while he pulled of his hood.

She smiled "Come on Veezara, you only have the fun you make yourself"

"Besides, I did not want to let an ebony arrow left in him!" She said.

"Not worthy of it?" Veezara asked

She noddded and they began their walked back to the sanctuary.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sanctuary: Near Falkreath**

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><p>Astrid, the de-facto leader of the dark brotherhood in Skyrim, looked over the map infront of her as usual. She heard the door open and saw that Dawn and Veezara had returned. The argonian just moved past Astrid to collect the money from Nazir, while Dawn took a seat infront of Astrid.<p>

"I guess it went well?" She asked smirkingly.

"Too easy, could have killed him in broad daylight in the inn and people would be none the wiser" She bragged. Veezara came up with a bag of septims and threw it to Dawn "Does not change the fact that she went all personal on him" He said and went down again. This earned her a slight glare from Astrid, that asked for an explanation.

"He was half drunk, rude and eyeing me out. Besides, i wanted to see if he really would go into the woods at night for money" Dawn explained while she tied her black hair into a ponytail.

"I see" Was all Astrid said. "You have been quite succesful Dawn, you almost assassinated more then most of us compined. Why don't you take some time off, let the rest of us have a go at some contracts" She smiled.

Dawn was about to reject the offer, but quickly thought about how much she have been traveling do to her 'work'. "Well, a vacation does sound nice. I think i head to Whiterun, see what trouble i can stir up there" She said smiling.

"As long as it does not compromise the brotherhood, then i dont mind. You earned it" Astrid said and went back to overlooking the map of Skyrim. Dawn put on some leather armor and put her shrouded armor in her backpack, and brought a ebony bow, some arrows and knifes along with her. She went outside and went up to the road leading to Falkreath. She hoped a carriage would pass by so she could hitch a ride. She eyed up the carriage, and saw only another passenger onboard it, who quickly took notice of her.

"Looking for a ride?" He asked

She nodded "Does this ride go to Whiterun?"

"Yeah, im going there too" He said with a smile on his face.

She notice that he had nordic armor on without the helmet. And he had weird looking sword, and a nordic shield. He had brown eyes, black clean cut hair and a brown complexion.

"Mind if i tag along?" She asked with a flirty smile. He nodded and held out a hand to help her up, of which she accepted.

She sat infront of him, so she could get a good view of him, and the carriage set off. "What is your name stranger?" "Jesper. And yours milady?" He asked

"Dawn" She said. "Jesper does not sound like a name for a redguard"

"It's because i am not redguard. I was born and grew up in skyrim for the most of my young life" He said with a mild annoyed look on his face, that was easily to see and hear.

She took notice of this and said "I did not mean to offend you"

He shook his head and said "Sorry, i just hear that alot"

"People do tend to judge on the looks" She said and kept eyeing his sword.

He nodded at what she said and noticed that she stared at something. "See something you like?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

She pointed at his weapon "I have never seen a sword like that before"

"I be surprised if you did" He told her while taking out his sword and handed it to her. It was heavier then most one handed swords, but felt good in the hand.

"Why is that?" She asked

"It is made of dragonbone" He said smiling.

She looked dead serious at him "How in oblivion did you slay a dragon?!"

He smiled and looked into her eyes and said "I killed it of course!"

"But aint it only the dragonborn who can kill a..." She then figured out that he may be the dragonborn. Once she figured that out, she leaned back and said "Well arnt you full of surprises"

He took his sword back "I bet you got some suprises too"

She giggled and said "Oh how right you are"

**1 hour later, near Embershard mine.**

Doing the trip they had good conversation going on. Dawn have told him about how she was taught archery since she was 12 with her old friend Agni. He told her about how he learned the ways of sword and shield techniques from his parents, who both were former blades.

"So if your parents were blades, was it not taugh growing up? With the thalmor hunting members down and all" She asked curiously

He nodded and he had a grim look on his face. "We constantly had to watch out for thalmor and imperial soldiers a like. One word and my parents would eighter be slained, or locked up"

"Well where are your parents now?" She asked

"They-" He said but was caught off when they heard battle crys from the hills. Bandits came out of nowhere and shot the carriage driver in the head with a steel arrow. Jesper quickly took up his shield and covered for him and Dawn from the arrows.

The archers were only on the carriage right side, so cover was easy enough. Dawn quickly brought up her ebony bow and arrows and shot every bandit trying to flank them. When the barrage of arrows halted, they took it as a sign that they ran out of arrows. This made Jesper jump of the carriage and took the fight to them. His parents training were no match for the bandits one dimensional techniques.

"Come on, fight like a man!" One of them yelled who had a steel greatsword. He brought down his sword down on Jesper, who block it with his shield, and counter it quickly with his sword by stabbing him through the heart.

Dawn were quick to fire off her arrows, at any incoming bandits. Cause of their scale and hide armor, she did not have to worry about aiming to carefully.

As Jesper cut down what seemed like the last man, they caught up with each other.

"I see the archery training did pay off" He praised her.

She looked at him with a sly smile and said "Then you should see me under pressure" "Looks like the blades really know how to fight" She said to him.

"A mix of offense and defense have worked well for me" He said and looked at the carriage. The horses were also victims of the hail of arrows, and were dead.

"Looks like we are on foot from here. But it will get dark soon" Dawn said as she saw the it soon turned night.

"Riverwood is just up the road, we could stay there for the night" He suggest.

"Well, i do need some more arrows" She said, noticing her quiver were almost embty.

"Where do you get your arrows from?" He asked.

She looked a little skeptical about telling him this, but decided to do it anyway. "I know this guy, who makes special 'orders' at times"

"Hmmm. If the local smith in Riverwood got any ebony, i could make some for you" He offered and began making his way to the town.

"Wait, you can make arrows?" She asked and quickly followed up on him.

He nodded "Of course, how do you think i got this sword. I made it myself!"


	3. Chapter 3

**The sleeping giant inn**

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><p>After visiting the local blacksmith and using his forge, Jesper managed to produce 110 ebony arrows for Dawn. She showed her gratitude by offering him some drinks at the inn. Of course he could never say no to free mead, so he eagerly accepted. Jesper sat at one of the tables with the inn's wall to his back, and saw Dawn approach with 2 tankards and 4 bottles of black-briar mead.<p>

"Black-briar eh?" He said.

She smiled as she sat down and placed it on the table. "You made me alot of the finest arrows in all of Skyrim. And that is why, i think we should celebrate it with some of the finest mead in Skyrim"

She poured both of their tankards with mead, and they both hold them up "Keep this up and you will learn, being a great friend of mine is going to be unforgetable" He said and drank his mead.

After she drank her's too, she smile and lifted one of her eyebrows and said "Unforgetable eh? I like the sound of that" and winked at him.

After they poured down all of their mead together, Jesper managed to stand up barely and said "You really handle you're mead well"

"Would not be a proper nord if i did not" She replied.

They both went up to the bartender and asked for some water and they got it. They needed something to flush the taste away with. "There arnt that much alcohol in black-briar" He said.

She nodded "I think it's the taste that makes it worthwhile, but not in the long run"

"So feel like trying to go to Whiterun?" He asked as he leaned up against the wall.

"Sure, a nightstroll does sound nice" She said cheerfully and went outside first and started to walk towards Whiterun, with him a few steps behind.

"Where did you get training using daggers?" He asked out of nowhere.

She looked at him suspiciously "How did you know i got training using daggers?"

"A pair like those are not cheap, one only buy those if they got intend to use them" He said

"I suppose that is true" She said. But she could not tell him she learned it from assassinating people for money. People tend to be judgemental of assassins. "I got the training from one of my mom's friends, a khajiit named K'aja" She lied.

He looked skeptical at her "I thought Khajiits rather used their sharp claws?"

"Perhaps some, maybe some dont want their claws dirty" She said with a slight smile, hoping he would go for the lie.

He chuckled a little. "Yeah, i guess so. So how skilled was K'aja?"

"She claimed to be something called a duelist. It's a person who likes to duel wield two weapons i think, and she used daggers since they are fasted to swing with" She told, making it up as she goes. She was an adept liar at times, kinda had to be when you need to infiltrate certain groups to get to your target.

And he seemed to buy it. "That is true, through i like it if they were not in and arms reach at me" He said, as they moved on to Whiterun, unknowned that they were watched by a pair of glowing eyes.

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><p><strong>Whiterun, midnight<strong>

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><p>They just passed the gate to the city and saw it was completly deserted. No wonder since it was midnight. They walked past Warmaidens and Jesper stopped infront of his house.<p>

"Well this is my place. Not big, but is cozy" He said in a little tired voice.

She quickly took notice of this and said "Is it past the big bad dragonborn's bedtime" in a mocking voice.

"Pity, i was about to invite you to stay for the night, but now i dont know" He countered with a smirk on his face.

"You dont take stuff like that serious do ya?" She half asked, as she tries to flutter her eyes at him.

He was about to say something when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man in scaled armor and a big iron waraxe charging at him, and a man with glowing eyes and a dagger and black and red clothing.

"Vampire!" He yelled and quickly blocked the thrall's attack with his shield. Dawn was about to help untill he told her to go for the vampire instead. She did as told and charged off towards the bloodsucking fiend, with her daggers drawn. As she tried to stab him with her left hand, he turned quickly and grabbed her wrist. Quickly she tried to use her other dagger, but he caught her right wrist too. He twisted and presure her wrist that it made her drop her weapons, and got lifted up by one hand to the throat.

"Foolish mortal, you really think cattle like you are a match for me?" He said in arrogance and brought up his left hand and started to use vampiric drain on her. It was then she really started to struggle against his hold on her, as she felt her life force getting pulled out of her. Suddenly she felt something else, something diffrent and wrong, but she gave it little thought as she got the life drained out of her.

"Let her go!" Jesper yelled after he was done with the thrall.

The vampire just chuckled and said "Or what? Please, you could barely keep up with my thrall, and he was weak in body as in spirit. How do you stand a chanc- ugh" and he was cut off, by Jesper's dragonbone sword going through him. In hindsight, it proberly was not a good idea to boast while being defenseless.

Dawn quickly fell to the ground, and Jesper was quickly there to hold her up. She coughed and breathed deeply for air, but it was cut short as she started to squirm around in agony.

Confused Jesper looked at the dying vampire and said "What is wrong with her?!"

The vampire just laughed while he coughed blood out "Vampiric drain, got the habit of infecting victims. The infection sometimes can not be seen or detected for some, and they sometimes think its a minor illness. But the *cough'cough* infection on your friend, seems to quicken. She proberly got minutes" He said with a bloody grin on his face and then died.

Jesper looked worried at Dawn as she continue to roll in agony, and he swear he even saw her eye color change a bit. He took her up in his arms and carried her to his house. He quickly got up and ran upstairs into his room and layed her down on the bed, while he searched panicly in his chest for potions.

Lydia walked in, who looked like she was sleeping as she was in her small clothes.

"My thane, what is wrong?!" She asked quick, not embarresed of her lack of decency. Jesper told, that at home she could just relax and only wear the armor when they are out together.

"It's my friend Lyds. Where do we got disease cures?!" He asked fast.

She went over to his nightstand and open a draw and quickly pulled out cure. Jesper found a healing potion, to restore her life energy.

Dawn still layed uncontrollable on the bed, so it took Lydia to hold her down, while Jesper took the cure and tried to force open her mouth a bit.

"Come on, ope-ufg!" He said as Dawn manage to get out of Lydia's grasp and took a hold on Jesper. As she lifted him with both of her arms, he could look into her eyes and saw one of them had changed color already. Her face was the look of a wild paranoid animal, and it frighten him alot.

Lydia got up and tackle Dawn to the floor, letting Jesper fall, with the vile luckily not breaking on the floor. He quickly picked it up and saw Lydia was getting pined down and choked to death by Dawn. Jesper came up behind her and force open her mouth and poured the cure down inside her throat. He quickly closed her mouth so she would not spit it out. The cure did it's trick sort of, as she leapt off Lydia and began to lay down on the bed, taking quick breaths. He then took out the healing potion and gently poured it down her mouth.

"There a go, easy" He said, trying to comfort her, as she then began to sleep.

He let out a sigh of relief and went over to Lydia and helped her up. "You okay?" He asked worriedly

She coughed "No, i had worse. So who is she?" She asked

"Her name is Dawn, we meet in Falkreath when we took carrige to Whiterun"

Lydia then eyed the back Dawn still had on her back and gently removed it. "I put it beside the nightstand" She said and did it. "Anything eles you need?" She asked.

"No that will be all, and thanks Lyds" He said and gave her smile of gratitude.

"It's no problem, it's what i'm here for" She said and went of to her room.

Jesper then decided it would be best if he was in with Dawn through out the night, so he chance into some common clothes and lay beside her, hoping it would be alright in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

**Whiterun: 09:00 AM**

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><p>Dawn began to moan for a bit and roll around a bit, at the noise of something getting hammered outside. She slowly open her eyes and saw that she was in a small bedroom. She could not remember anything from after the vampire drained her, it all seem to have gone dark for her. She looked down at herself and saw she still had her leather armor on, but quickly noticed that her backpack was missing.<p>

"Oh divines where is it?!" She said frustrated. She looked around and saw her stuff next to the nightstand, her weapons layed next to her backpack. She open her pack and saw her shrouded armor was still in there.

"Thank sithis that it is still here" She whispered to herself incase people were nearby. As she closed her pack, she wondered what happen last night after they arrived in the city. She had to find Jesper to find out.

She picked up her stuff and snuck her way out of the house, and into the sunny streets of Whiterun. She saw that the hammering came from the blacksmith nextdoor to the house she left. She walked over to the smith, noticing that she was an Imperial and said "Hey, do you know a Jesper around here?"

The imperial did not even look at Dawn and said "Of course. Everybody in Whiterun knows him" while keep working.

"Really? why?" She asked

"He killed a dragon right outside of the city at one of the watchtowers. He was then made thane of Whiterun. Other then that he also helped restoring the gildergreen in the middle of the wind district" She said. "Name is Adrianne by the way" And she turned around to face Dawn.

"Dawn. Would you know where i can find him?" She asked.

"Try checking Jorrvaskr, he usual spends time there in Whiterun. Just go up the stairs at the market, then go right when passing the gildergreen" Adrianne said, and returned to work.

"Thank you for your help" Dawn said giving a slight nod and began to go up to Jorrvaskr. She heard of the companions. She often compared them to the dark brotherhood, only more brutish and to much alike as common mercenary. But she heard troubling stuff about some of them.

As she made her way up to the wind district, she saw the giant gildergreen tree blossom beautifully in the air. She turned right and went up the steps into the mead hall of Jorrvaskr. Inside she was not surprised. A big table with mead and various food on it, with a fire place infront of the table. She saw that most of them had their attention towards a fist fight between a nord woman and a male dunmer. In the crowd she saw two men in heavy steel armor and a matching steel greatsword to follow. They looked much alike and most be brothers or cousins. Her eyes then trailed to a redhaired woman with warpaint across her face. She wear what seemed like fur with a couple of metal plating on it.

Dawn went over to the red haired woman, as she was not that much into the local fist fighting. She walked up to her, as the woman was just sitting on a chair and drank from a flagon and looked at Dawn, expecting an name from her.

"Is a man named Jesper here?" She asked.

The woman eyed her up and asked "Who is asking?"

"Dawn" She said, getting rather impatient.

"Aela" "So what buisness do you got with Jesper?" She asked suspiciously.

"It's something private" Dawn stated.

Aela just looked at Dawn and stood up and started to walk around her, smelling at Dawn discreetly.

"Curious" She said "Alright i show you to Jesper. But be warned, harm him and you only got oblivion to greet!" She warned her.

Dawn just nodded and followed Aela down some stairs at the other side of the hall. They went through the door at the stairs and went to the room at the other side of the hallway. They got into what seemed like a study, with books on the shelves and tables, and a map of Skyrim on a nearby table. To their right was a closed double door, which Dawn assumed was a private room.

"He should be inside. Remember my warning!" Aela said with a pointed finger at Dawn, who did not give two septims of what the woman said.

Dawn knocked on the door twice and heard a "Come in"

She open and saw Jesper in his armor on his bed reading a book. He put down the book and a smile appeared on his face. "Dawn! Good to see you up and about!"

"Good to see you too. So, leader of the companions i guess?" She asked.

He nodded "Yeah, but more like an advicer through my word got a lot of weight around here"

She sat down beside him and gave him a flirty look and said softly "A bunch of trained killers at your fingertips"

It made him smile as he saw she was slowly moving closer towards him. "You could call it that. So got any memory of last night?" He asked, changing the subject, and the mood according to Dawn. But this was the reason she looked for him.

"To be honest, no. I got no memory since that vampire got me. I had hoped you would know and tell me" She said

He took a deep breath and started to remember the events.

"The vampire used a drain spell on you. You got infected with a disease that turns people into vampires. After the fight I saw you squirm around in agony and noticed the few times you open your eyes, they began to change color. I picked you up and ran inside my house where my housecarl and i treated you" He said.

Dawn was surprised to say the least. A man who only knew her for a day, were willing to risk his life to save her's. Sure she was used to her fellow assassins, assiting her if a job got a little messy, but he just did it, even through killing her would be faster and less painful.

"I suppose a thank you is in order" She said looking down on the bed, blushing abit. He put a finger under her chin and lifted it up so she looked at him.

He gave a slight smile and said "It's what i do"

She then close her eyes and started to lean a little towards him. He quickly saw this and did the same. They were inches from each others lips until a knock was heard.

"Harbinger? There is a courier here that is looking for Dawn" Aela said while standing outside the room.

Jesper and Dawn rested their forheads against each other and laughed a little of the timing of Aela. "We will be right there" He said as he got up from the bed and open the door to see Aela standing next to the courier. He looked like an imperial by looks with dark hair, taned skin and mildly shorter then an average nord.

Dawn looked up at the courier "What news do you bring?"

"It's a private message. Only meant for you" He assured her. She gave a single nod and stood up and were about to go outside with the man, until Jesper hold up a hand and said "You dont need to go outside. You can just use my room"

"Thank you" She smiled and waited for the courier to get inside and closed the door. She then turned to the courier with an annoyed look on her face "So what is this about?"

The man just went over to the door's keyhole and check if Jesper and Aela still were there.

This made Dawn prepare to pull out her knife. "Explain yourself now imperial!" She warned him.

"My name is Amiel. Astrid sent me" He quickly but quietly said.

Dawn were surprised but could not allow to show it, it could be a trap. "I dont know who you are talking about, but you better come up with something quick before i gut you!"

He quickly showed her an letter, which she unfolded and read.

_"Dawn_

_I Would not be surprised if you already made Amiel wet himself by now. He is one of our new recruits that Veezara picked. He still got some things to learn so i sent him you're way since the contact is in Whiterun. I know this may seem like a burden, but i hoped you could show him the ropes._

_Astrid"_

She just sighed annoyed and said "And she suggested i took some days off" she then looked at the man, noticing he was quite young. "How old are you ?"

"20. Most have impressed the brotherhood much if they decided to recruit me already" He said, sounding a little arrogant.

She shot him a stern look and said "Look imperial, i dont care how old you are, but you just turned my vacation into babysitting, so you better not use that tone around me. Got it?!

He just silently nodded. "Good, now where and when are we suppose to meet the contact?" She asked a little more relaxed now.

"At the ruined watchtower in an hour" He said.

"Good. Now i expect you got you're armor with you?" She asked. He nodded "Good, now get us some cloaks, we need something to cover over our armor when we are going to meet the contact"

He looked confused at her "Why dont we just meet up with our normal clothes?" She just closed her eyes and shooked her head.

"Our cowls got masks for a reason. Belive it or not, some of us wants to have a life where clients dont recognize us. It tends to make things awkward if they did" She said in an annoyed tone as she made her way past him and down the hall.

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><p>Meanwhile.<p>

"And how did someone like you manage to get a girl like that her attention?" Aela asked playfully while drinking an tankard of ale.

"I bet he told her that he came from a whealthy family" Ria said with a grin.

"Maybe she lost a bet to him and this is punishment" Said Nadia who and some others laughed at that.

Jesper just smiled and shook his head "No, a punishment would be sharing a room with you. Believe me i tried that!" Many others laughed at that except Nadia who shot him a deathly glare.

He looked around the mead hall and saw Dawn and that imperial courier were headed for the doors outside. He walked up to them and asked "Hey! Where are you going?"

She turned and saw he had a curious look on his face. "Just something from work, have to be out of the city for a day or two" She lied with no effort.

He got a sad expression on his face for a moment but quickly change it to a little smile. "And i guess it's not something i can help with?"

"No i'm sorry, but when it is done i will look you up okay?" She said

"That i wont mind" He said with a more happy look on his face as she turns to the door and went outside.

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><p>Amiel and Dawn quickly went over to the general store to get some cloaks. "Get us some cloaks imperial, while i go and look around" She said in a casual tone, while he just had an annoyed look on his face. She saw a bookshelf with all diffrent kinds of books and spell tomes.<p>

'Hmmmm let's see' She thought as she went through the titles. Two books caught her attention. History of the Hero of Kvatch, and a book of all known blades members after the great war. She turned around and went over to Belethor and showed him the book about the blades. "Do you know anything of this book?" She asked.

He took a look at it and open it and read the first couple of pages and said "Oh it's mostly a list of member of the blades that manage to escape their temple before the Thalmor sacked it. And it even got some background on some of the high ranking members"

Dawn were a tad confused about this "Why would book like that be made?"

"My guess is that the Thalmor proberly wants people to find and turn them in" He said

"I see. I want to buy it and this one" She said and showed him the book about the hero of Kvatch.

"All righty then. That will be 250 septims" He demanded

She quickly gave him a surprised look and said "What?! For two books?!"

He nodded "The book about the hero of Kvatch is rare. It is said it was written by two of the good friends of the hero himself. Two blades members named Barus and Joffrey"

She just pouted a little and handed him a little bag of septims. She put the books in her pack and looked over at Amiel. "You find anything Amiel?"

"Got these two" He said as he showed her two black hooded cloaks. Dawn smiled and looked back at Belethor "He is paying"

The breton just smiled satisfied and said "That be 500 septims"

"Are you sure we can not think of a more fair price sir?" He pleaded.

He just shook his head "No can do, gotta make a living here"

Amiel just sighed and gave Dawn the cloaks, as he brought out a bag of septims. "Hopefully this is enough" He pouted.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ruined watchtower**

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><p>Dawn and Amiel had their hooded cloaks on and were waiting for the client. Dawn were waiting patiently, but not the same could be said about the recruit.<p>

"This contract better be worth this waiting!" He said while pacing back and forth.

Dawn just sighed and said "Maybe they are just nervous"

He looked at her with a doubtfull look and said "What is there to be nervous about?"

"You're right. What is their to be nervous about meeting two assassins in a remote location?" She said and decided to go inside the tower.

"Where are you going?"

"Keep a lookout for anyone going near here. And I want to see how you approach this" She yelled as she was going up the stairs.

"Then why did i have to buy a cloak for you?!"

"Consider it as payment for dragging me out of my vacation!"

Things went quiet after that. She got on top of the tower and took notice of the view up there. She also saw the remains of a dragon beside the tower. She then remembers what the blacksmith told her, that Jesper slew a dragon outside of Whiterun. She took another look at it and saw even through it was mostly bones, it still looked pretty big.

"The blades most have a hard training if they can match fighting a dragon" She whispered to herself. She then quickly shift her attention to three horsemen riding down the road towards them. She quickly ran over to the stairs and went down to tell Amiel. "I think the client is here, with 2 guards"

He looked at her with a nervous look on his face "Guards?"

She nodded "Both in steel armor. Okay here is how it's going to go. You go outside to meet them, and stick to the shadows. Only ask for name and price, and more information on the target. And don't worry about the guards, if they try anything then I got an arrow to greet them" She said as she walked over next to the exit of the tower with a bow and arrow ready. He just nodded, still being nervous. He got out and stayed in the shadows with his hood on, trying to hide his face.

Amiel looked at the client and notice that it was an old battle harden nord in fine clothes. The man quick noticed Amiel standing in the shadows.

"Good you are already here. I can't wait to get out of here" He complained.

Amiel holded his voice neutral with no emotions. "Who do you wish to send to Sithis and the night mother?"

The nord just looked at him with an annoyed look "Now you hear mister. I do not care who you and your band of cutthroats worship, all I want is for you to kill the little Grey-Mane harlet Olfina!"

"What can you tell me about this woman?" He asked.

"This tramp has fooled around my boy Jon, they hoped to keep it a secret but I got proof of it. There is no way in oblivion that I let someone of my kin, mingle with those jealous traitors!" "You're payment is 1000 gold"

Being the stereotypical Imperial he is, Amiel tried to get more money out of it.

"Murder within a hold can be difficult, and it is not enough to cover in case of the guard witness the act. A minimum of 1200 gold sounds more than reasonable" He countered.

The nord just sighed "Fine 1200 it is. There is also a bonus for you, if you got the skills for it"

Amiel nodded "Go on"

The nord went up to Amiel and whispered it to his ear. Dawn did not even seemed interested in knowing of the bonus, but only on what to do after this job. Does she go back to the family with Amiel, or does she get to continue her vacation? The nord then rode off with his guards in tow, after the negotiation and she could get out of hiding. "So when do we get started?" She seemed bored.

* * *

><p><strong>Jorrvaskr, around 10 at night.<strong>

* * *

><p>A feast was called for in celebration of Vignar Gray-Mane's name day. Normally the feast inside the halls of the companions were for members and staff only, but the Gray-Mane family were allowed to attend the feast cause of Vignar. There were food, song and plenty of mead to go around, and the usual drunken fist fights that followed and got people riled up. Jesper was seated next to the man of the day, at the middle of the table. Vignar had shared stories with the young harbinger. Not all of them ended good sadly, but they dismissed it as part of life and had their focus of the celebration.<p>

A fist fight between Torvar and Nadia escalated quickly, and turned everybodies attention towards them. All but Jesper who just sat at his seat and drank his mead. Aela joined him and drank mead with him.

"A toast to Vignar" He said, holding up his tankard.

"May he live for another year" Said Aela as she raised her tankard to hit his. "Tell me Jesper, whatever happen to that woman earlier?"

He raised one eyebrow and looked at the huntress in confusion "Why are asking?"

"She had the smell of a vampire coming from her, and I do not mean the infection you cured her of"

"Then what?" Now he was really curious of what she meant.

"My time as a beast have improved my sense of smell. I can sometime smell what a person have been close to for longer period of time" She informed her harbinger.

"Just please get to the point Aela" He requested impatiently.

"Of course. What I am trying to say is, that I kinda could smell that your 'friend' have been around a vampire for some time. And this worries me of course considering all these random vampire attacks" She said. He was about to call her crazy, but with all the weird stuff that is going on in Skyrim, who was he to tell if Aela was just making this up. "I take it your silence means you belive me?"

"Not fully, but stranger things have happen" He admitted while looking grimly in the fire infront of him. But the fire seemed to be a little odd in his eyes since it looked like a fire was behind it. He stood up and cleared his eyes and saw that the front door was caught on fire. He quickly and loudly warned the others of it and they all rushed to the back door to the training yard. The companions were quick to get the Gray-Manes out first before them.

Jesper went over to the fire and shouted. "_Fo Krah Diin!_" And a blast of ice came out of his mouth and cooled down the fire till it was no more. He quickly joined the others in the back, to check if everybody was okay. As he made it outside, he saw everybody was okay. "Thank the nines" he panted. But he celerated to early as an arrow found it's mark in the heart of Olfina. Everyone was shocked, but mostly the family just looked in horror as life was slowly going away from the young dying woman, who were to shocked to say anything.

The companions were formed a defensive circle around the wounded family but Jesper quickly got a small look of two people running of from the skyforge. "I GOT THEM!" he yelled and ran after them. The two figures were walking in the shadows, but quickly heard the repeating sound of heavy boots in motion. As they turned they saw Jesper running towards them. This got them running again as they manage to get out of the maingate and past the guards.

The assassins made it to the ruined watchtower. They hoped that they would lose him across the field and that he would tire of running in heavy armor.

"Tell me again why we were running when a bonus was within our grasp?!" Amiel asked bitterly, pulling down his hood.

"Bonus?" Dawn asked and pulled hers down too.

He nodded "If we could take out the smith, we get a huge bonus!"

Dawn just sighed and said "Well if you did not notice, we got chased by the dragonborn! We are lucky we even got away from him" And she sat down up against a wall, panting.

She looked up and saw a figure approach them, slowly. "You can not be serious?!" "Amiel, he is here!" She said and put on her mask and hood and ready to leave but was stopped by the new assassin. "You got a death wish?!"

"Are you really going to let a chance like this pass? We got a chance to ampush him and drag him before Astrid. Think of it! Us capturing the mighty dragonborn. All of Tamriel will know that the brotherhood is back!" He said excited.

And just then came the dragonborn up to them, faster then expected, but the new assassin were still overeager to prove himself.

"You two! Will answer for this!" He said, while threatning them with his longsword drawn.

"We have heard of you dragonborn. Oh Sithis most have blessed us for giving us a chance of capturing you!" Amiel said and took out two orc daggers, while Dawn, regretfully drew an arrow. They noticed that he had forgot his shield at home. Amiel were quick to attack Jesper who easily block the attacks.

Dawn still had her bow and arrow ready, but found it hard to shoot. Amiel were her responsible for the family, and she loves her family dearly. But she have grown kinda fond of the young hero Jesper. "SHOT HIM!" Yelled Amiel as he was starting to regret his desicion in fighting the dragonborn. Amiel were lucky to be able to withstand the pounding Jesper gave him with his dragonbone sword.

"Damn assassins!" He said while hitting Amiel in the head with the flat side of his sword. "Not man enough for a fair fight huh?!" and he kicked the assassin down to the ground. Just then an ebony arrow landed next to his feet. He looked at the other assassin he forgot all about. "And why have you not shot me yet?! He semi yelled at her.

"You are not our target" She said, using the mask to muffle her voice. "Let us be, and we will forget this little incident!" She said firmly with a new arrow drawn.

He noticed the male assassin manage to crowl away from him and towards behind the female. "And you really think that arrow is going to stop me?" He half asked.

"Yes" She said in a calm voice and fired the arrow towards the his sword's handle, which made him drop it. His eyes were wide in shock and looked down and back at the assassins.

"Wish I was good with spells" He grunted but could be heard. Of which the male assassin heard too and cast a magelight in the face to Jesper.

"ARHH" He yelped at the ball of light flying towards him. He covered his eyes with his arm and took a few steps back and crouch. When he dared to open his eyes they were gone, but lucky for him, they did not take his sword. He picked it up and noticed the 2 ebony arrows on the ground and picked them up too. "Ebony? I wonder" He then began his walk home to check on the Gray-Manes. But when he returned, it was mourning that was his greeting. Though he did not knew her well, he still felt sadden about this tragedy for the family with all they have been through. When he had returned, they were of course not to happy about the assassins getting away, but their reaction were most out of grief.

* * *

><p><strong>Breezehome, the day after around noon.<strong>

* * *

><p>While the Gray-Mane were arranging the funeral for their lost daughter, Jesper were in his house to think. 2 ebony arrows of fine make was the only clue he had, but it was enough to add one person who could have done it. He did not like it, but he knew he had to face the truth, that Dawn might be an assassin.<p> 


End file.
